So Earth Day isn’t a cause for celebration at most companies in the window and door industry. As I noted last week, I wouldn’t say marking the occasion is a prerequisite for being green, as so many of us like to say we are, but perhaps we should think about Earth Day plans next year.

Look at what some companies did this year. PGT Industries and Window Professionals, one of its distributors, marked the occasion by announcing a partnership with L.E.E.D. Depot, a Miami-based firm that provides LEED consulting, design services and products on a project to do a green retrofit of Chamber South, the home of the Chamber of Commerce for the greater Miami-Dade County region.

In Iowa, Pella Corp. marked Earth Day by participating in a local electronic recycling or eCycling day. Participating businesses and organizations designed the event to encourage local residents to safely recycling obsolete electronics to help protect the environment. The four previous eCycling events saw nearly 4,100 items with a combined weight of 117,331 pounds of electronic waste and more than 1,425 homes participating. Among the items collected were computer monitors, personal computers, televisions, printers, scanners, and laptops. It is noteworthy also that the eCycling event is an extension of a program first established by Pella about 10 years ago.

By the way, it wasn’t just industry companies that took part in Earth Day events. Jim Benney, executive director of the National Fenestration Rating Council, spoke last week at the Senate Energy and Environmental Fair. He talked about the NFRC rating and labeling system and how it plays an integral role in helping people make more energy efficient choices.

Benney said the diverse individuals drawn to the fair gave NFRC “an exceptional opportunity” to break new ground in its educational outreach efforts.

I give Pella and PGT credit for not just telling people they’re green, but showing them. There are plenty of window and door companies that make valuable contributions to their communities and are doing a good job highlighting the green benefits of windows and doors. Earth Day isn’t the only time to do it, of course, but it is a day that green issues are top of mind for much of the public—and perhaps, as Benney suggests—“an exceptional opportunity.”